ACT Science Tips?

Test Preparation
1

Hey guys. I’m taking the ACT at school tomorrow, along with the rest of my Junior class. I am one of the few who already took the ACT at a nearby college;I received a 25 composite score. I chose to take it early because I wanted to see how difficult it was. By far, the science section was the most challenging. I received a 23 for the science. I don’t understand how it is possible to go through 7 sets of data within 35 minutes; not to mention, the scientist argumentation section takes a lot of time to read and understand. Does anyone have effective methods of beating the science section? I heard to only look at charts and graphs and ignore the paragraphs of information, but I sometimes find that info to be crucial to answering some of the questions. Please respond if you have some tips. Thanks!

2

@Donl1998 Check you PMs

3

Thanks!

4

No problem

5

I posted to a similar inquiry a while back. To summarize:

  1. Do NOT entertain yourself with the extraneous information -- about 70% of the presented information (charts, descriptions) are totally irrelevant.
  2. Your job is to get the right answer, not to understand the study. Do your job and get out.
  3. Jump right into the questions and refer back to the information that the question requires.

If you follow these steps to your heart, you will answer everything and have about 5 minutes remaining.

Good luck.

6

I’m wondering, too!!!

7

I agree with @viphan‌. I went from a 29 to a 36 and the difference was that after i got the 29, I understood all the experiments, and after taking the one where I got a 36, I still have no clue what the experiment is about. ITs pretty twisted, but I works that way.

8

Hey, I took the ACT in February last year and got a 22 in the science. When I took it again in September, I received a 35 (!!! that surprised even me). Like someone’s mentioned, don’t read the passages beforehand. Just don’t. Go straight to the questions. And this may sound dumb, but it helped me to use my fingers and point at the charts and tables–“according to table 1” automatically put my finger on table 1 and continue. I think personally, it helped me to focus on the problem. Skip any problem that you’re spending 10-15 seconds floundering on. If you’ve spent that much time and you’re still “um, ok, um, so, I think, maybe, this?” skip. You may have time to come back, you may not. Also, take as many practice tests as possible. I took 6 science tests. Speed is your worst enemy. Practice; if I could get a 13-point jump, there’s no reason why you couldn’t increase your score significantly.